Kauto Is Such A Star

Not often Kauto Star victories are cheered in the office but Saturday gave this betting blog a rare chance to cheers the Gold Cup winner.

Monday

Monday is usually accounts day in the office and a couple of punters accounts took a hammer blow with Aikideau in the opening race at Plumpton. Andy Stewart sponsored the day and punters took the hint that Aikideau could be the banker. However it could never get on terms with the bang in-form Emma Lavelle-trained Gleann Eagas and got us off to a flyer. Quick- stop the week!

However, as usual, there was a sting in the tail later in the day and the very well-backed Master Milan in the 300 took the gloss of things, JP Mcmanus getting the early Christmas expenses and a couple of five-figure wagers kicking us in the ankles! It didn’t get a lot better with victory for Let Your Love Flow at Wolverhampton, taking another couple of decent wagers and ensuring the day wasn’t as good as first hoped.

Tuesday

Tuesday was very quiet in the office. Racing was supplied by the ‘three Fs’: Folkestone, Fakenham and F*****g Southwell! Flying Pickets’ victory in the 220 was cancelled out by a £12k Wager for Langley in the 340 at Fakenham, our old mate Richard Johnson (who’s been on the floor longer than the lino in my kitchen) again hitting the deck on the Tim Vaughan gelding. Not anything else to report really.

Wednesday

Wednesday saw one of our ‘naughty each way races’ with the 140 at Hexham; thankfully for us the naughty boys were kept off their step as the 2^nd and 3^rd favourites fought out the finish. Luckily for us we saw some big bets at odds-on for the disappointing favourite Kings Grace so had a good result.

Again not much else to report until the closing ‘bumper’ at Fairyhouse; Irish bumpers aren’t usually our favourite laying mediums (although you can sometimes rely on a pig of a ride by PW Mullins to get you out of the brown stuff!). Here they latched on to the Jessie Harrington-trained Celtic Cailin which finished well-beaten behind the OH NO PW MULLINS-RIDDEN WINNER! I’ll keep quiet in future! Not much else to report on and really just those two races gave us a good day.

Thursday

Thursday we were wearing black armbands at the end of the day. Digger Gets Lucky (who is owned by Jeremy Clarkson among others) didn’t prove too lucky for us as a big bet of £10k at 3/1 came in.

The action then shifted to Thurles where they seem to be the only track in Ireland to stage NH racing in winter during the week and our old mate the bumper! This one looked a bit more uncompetitive than usual and a steady stream of money for JP’s Touch Back during the day was noticed; come show time, though, we saw a £10k wager for Champagne Agent (our old mucker PW!). The stream of cash for Touch Back continued including an even £50k. Our money ended up in the Tipperary mud as Touch Back sauntered clear in the last furlong.

Things got no better when, under the lights at Kempton Park, Trip Switch landed something of a touch for a couple of our clients (and may have helped the trainer pay some legal bills!) and we were left waving the white flag.

Even the darts in the Black Country didn’t give us any respite in the evening. No Oi Oi Ois here! Nor did the punter who played under on the points in the European rugby tie between Newport and Perpignan give us any either.

Friday

Friday fired with the 220 at Kempton and Lady Gibraltar was all the rage to leave us rocking in the maiden. However, we also saw early morning cash for its market rival Kyleakin Lass so shouts came in the office as Nini Ok came to beat the pair of them. As usual, though, the money didn’t stay in the hod too long as the odds-on boys steamed into Super Duty in Haydock 305. This made all and we had to give all the winnings back.

A swings and roundabouts day swung back our way again as Decoy again proved popular, just had he had at Cheltenham the previous week; this time though he got caught on the run in and put our noses in front on the day (and there are several large ones in the office!).

Aerodynamic gave one of punters a much more streamlined bank account as it obliged in the 615 at Wolverhampton- the day just belonged to us though.

Saturday

The best was saved to last this week as Haydock and Ascot staged top class cards. After a quiet start to the day the heavy hitters came in for Oscar Whiskey- big bets of even £50k and £30k were recorded along with several other hefty wagers, but we also saw support for Overturn with £8k and £6k twice seen at 11/4. Unsurprisingly, these two were fighting it out at the last but, because of the time difference, some of the ‘exchange clickers’ in the office gave a shout as Oscar Whiskey traded at 1000. We wouldn’t have minded but the horses were at Swinley bottom on our monitors! Anyway a little later pictures did indeed confirm that Oscar Whiskey had crashed at the last flight!

Haydock’s feature race saw the return of last year’s Gold Cup and King George hero Long Run, together with young pretender Diamond Harry, old warrior Kauto Star and the likes of Weird Al and Time For Rupert. This was also the best betting heat seen in the office for a while, £50k and £40k wagers for the Champion seen along with big bets for Diamond Harry at 9/2 and even Kauto Star saw supporters with a £4k wager at 6/1. Of course this race drew everyone’s attention and with Long Run making a few mistakes and coming off the bridle at an early stage everyone’s eyes turned to the strong travelling Diamond Harry and the old warrior Kauto Star bowling along in front. When Kauto started to tire approaching the 2^nd last groans were heard as Long Run began to close, but a fine leap at the last (not something you always associate with Kauto) sealed it- cue real cheers in the office from the jumps-loving fraternity (you don’t hear this for a class 6 handicap at Southwell!). We even allowed the £4k at 6/1 not to cloud our cheers!

Alas that was the highlight of the day as wins in the bumper at Ascot for Population, Master Minded’s victory at Ascot , Man United’s scrappy win at Swansea and a proper old gamble on the AW at Wolves for Just Breathe took away some of the profits. However, we live to fight another day and, as I’m off on Sunday, this bettin blog will be back to report on next week’s action.